Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, Dposcorp, SpotTheCat
just brew it! wrote:I know! I, with my 22-year-old fairly-normal-no-degree-having-income (i.e. not too great), went looking for an HMD awhile back, and the market is just terrible! Cheap HMDs are total garbage, and good HMDs are INSANELY expensive! (((゚Д゚;)))If this will be (as they claim) truly affordable for end users then it could be a real game-changer. I work with similar tech at my day job, but it is *very* expensive. As in, "you can have one of these or you can have a new car" expensive.
JohnC wrote:Eheh, well, as I said, I'm not that interested in the head-tracking or even 3D aspects of the device -- just an immersive HD HMD to block out external factors (glare, other visual distractions) would be incredible, and also a lot more portable than a big 24" monitor! (・∀・)The device looks interesting, however still not a proper replacement for a full VR suit with haptic feedback and omnidirectional treadmill :(
auxy wrote:I REALLY hope this thing takes off and catches on. Going by the conventional wisdom, what they are trying to pull off is nothing short of truly impossible.
auxy wrote:I forsee a future not too far from now where your "desktop" is simply a docking station for your portable device, be it more phone-like or tablet-like (I suspect somewhere in between, like a "phablet"), and if you need to do real computing on the go, you have a head-mounted display -- preferably with transparency option for augmented reality -- and maybe wireless accessories, like a hand-held trackball or trackpoint-type device and for games, something not unlike the PS3's move navigation controller for games. Ahh, I can't wait! (*≧艸≦)
JohnC wrote:Really? Have you seen what the current portable devices can do? (・`ェ´・)つI highly doubt that such tiny portable devices would ever have enough power for future "desktops", at least not for most advanced video games :wink:
auxy wrote:JohnC wrote:Really? Have you seen what the current portable devices can do? (・`ェ´・)つI highly doubt that such tiny portable devices would ever have enough power for future "desktops", at least not for most advanced video games
We're already not so far from such a possible future; for awhile, when my desktop was down because I blew up my CPU (eheh...), I used my crappy Tegra2 phone as a "desktop", with HDMI out, and bluetooth mouse and keyboard, and ... it was surprisingly functional! I even played some UnrealEngine3 games on it! Hehehee. ┐( ̄ヮ ̄)┌
JohnC wrote:Nope! I was playing Monster Madness, which is a way better game.Infinity Blade? It's a nice game, but it has rather small environments and small amount of NPC's :wink:
JohnC wrote:Why do you imagine such a thing? I think the main limitation is the amount of RAM; something like Tegra4 should be able to handle something like WoW battlegrounds, and the next generation of mobile chips maybe BF3 or similar. Surely not on the highest settings, but you know, we're still improving things in that area.Imagine playing something like BF3 on a 64-player map, or some current MMORPG game with even larger amount of people in the same area, something like GW2's WvW areas - I doubt that you would be able to run it on any tablet now...
JohnC wrote:No way! I'm already planning to transition my current machine into a Mini-ITX case, and it's plenty powerful enough -- or it will be soon -- for virtually any game out now. The trend in hardware is to get smaller, not larger; I don't know anyone who is using a tower case anymore. Even my stupid brother with his stupid 3x2 Crossfire+Eyefinity setup is using a MicroATX motherboard and small minitower case.You would still need a big, ugly "tower" case filled with latest GPU and CPU (perhaps several of them)
JohnC wrote:Hmm ... I haven't read a book in a few years ... maybe should do!P.S: You should really read "Ready Player One" book... It is pretty interesting from a "gaming in future" point of view, even for a person who didn't start gaming in early 80's using Atari 2600 or arcade cabinets or tabletop games :wink: It also deals with topics of escapism and "deceiving virtual appearances", if you're into such things.
JohnC wrote:auxy wrote:JohnC wrote:Really? Have you seen what the current portable devices can do? (・`ェ´・)つI highly doubt that such tiny portable devices would ever have enough power for future "desktops", at least not for most advanced video games
We're already not so far from such a possible future; for awhile, when my desktop was down because I blew up my CPU (eheh...), I used my crappy Tegra2 phone as a "desktop", with HDMI out, and bluetooth mouse and keyboard, and ... it was surprisingly functional! I even played some UnrealEngine3 games on it! Hehehee. ┐( ̄ヮ ̄)┌
Infinity Blade? It's a nice game, but it has rather small environments and small amount of NPC's Imagine playing something like BF3 on a 64-player map, or some current MMORPG game with even larger amount of people in the same area, something like GW2's WvW areas - I doubt that you would be able to run it on any tablet now...
Now imagine the future "VR"-based games, with much larger "worlds" and much more realistic graphics approaching "real life"-like fidelity, same goes for physics effects in them... You would still need a big, ugly "tower" case (or equally powerful, bulky laptop) filled with latest GPU and CPU (perhaps several of them) in order to contain all that (hopefully still user-upgradable) hardware and cooling system needed to render and process all of that... Unless, of course, you would be satisfied with accessing a significantly "lower fidelity" and more "laggy" version of this world using OnLive-like service with some portable device or a "gaming console"
P.S: You should really read "Ready Player One" book... It is pretty interesting from a "gaming in future" point of view, even for a person who didn't start gaming in early 80's using Atari 2600 or arcade cabinets or tabletop games It also deals with topics of escapism and "deceiving virtual appearances", if you're into such things.
druidcent wrote:Project SHIELD is neat, but ultimately not that relevant to the discussion at hand. We're talking about whether you could use a mobile device -- that is, something truly untethered, like a smartphone -- as your "primary" PC, with the same functionality as a desktop. So, imagine plugging your smartphone into a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and external storage, and then having it be the "brains" of your desktop PC.Can I just point out the Project SHIELD from Nvidia?
auxy wrote:Surely not on the highest settings, but you know, we're still improving things in that area.
auxy wrote:The trend in hardware is to get smaller, not larger.
auxy wrote:Hmm ... I haven't read a book in a few years ... maybe should do!
JohnC wrote:That's kind of clever, but if you compare their performance-per-watt and transistors-per-area, the Titan is obviously staggeringly more powerful. It's really not even true that hardware is getting larger in an absolute sense, though; if you compare the actual chips for Voodoo Graphics and GK110, I wouldn't be too surprised if they were similar size. (Remember, Voodoo Graphics had multiple chips to do its work.)Is that so? :wink: Compare the physical size of Voodoo 1 card and Nvidia's Titan, and compare their cooling setups and power consumption :wink:
JohnC wrote:I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone else mention this yet, but ... Crysis 3 doesn't even look good IMO. Like, at all, compared to how it performs. I mean, comparing the appearance/performance to other games competing, that is; for example, it looks a little better than id Software's Rage, but not staggeringly so, and Rage runs at 60hz maxed detail on my current GF104 GPU with ease. I actually think Skyrim with ENB and texture mods looks better (MUCH better) than Crysis 3 in still shots, and it runs at ~30Hz on my current GPU. I dunno -- I'm not impressed.And the Titan is still barely enough to give good FPS in a most current single-player game (Crysis 3) at most common resolution (1080p) at max settings :wink:
JohnC wrote:Um... is this a joke?Not even Twilight series??? :o
auxy wrote:It's really not even true that hardware is getting larger in an absolute sense, though; if you compare the actual chips for Voodoo Graphics and GK110, I wouldn't be too surprised if they were similar size. (Remember, Voodoo Graphics had multiple chips to do its work.)
auxy wrote:Um... is this a joke?
druidcent wrote:What you said is really not so far from what I said! ( ´ ▽ ` )ノ I wasn't really considering SHIELD as a candidate for that sort of futuristic vision; as far as I know it doesn't have a video out, so you couldn't hook the RIFT up to it. Still, we have similar futuristic visions -- mine is based heavily on the idea of the wireless Matrix as presented in the game Shadowrun, 4th edition. ( ・ω・)∩I think you are doing SHIELD a disservice by not looking at it closely. (...) My future vision is a small mobile processor node, with high data rate short distance connectivity to wearable devices like Google Glass and/or the iWatch. Each individual function becomes distributed across different devices on the body, and people can mix or match depending on what they need. Almost like a mobile router for devices. That would mean OR would fit perfectly in this model.
steelcity_ballin wrote:Only for the head-tracking -- the display and 3D parts are standard.While the tech is viable, it seems like the games themselves have to be modified to be able to run the hardware the way Occulus intends us to experience it.
steelcity_ballin wrote:Direct Neural Interface, where are you? ヽ(´□`。)ノI think the problem we'll have next is that our virtual worlds can be viewed just fine and interactively (look over your shoulder etc) but that now our desktops, mice, keyboards etc stay in a fix position.
steelcity_ballin wrote:If you mean the RIFT, it's due to come out in March.I think it'll be at least a year or more until we're mass producing consumer versions - but I want on that list!